Documenting the Crossroads to Freedom

As part of our goals for the summer, Team Hyde Park decided instead of just taking the community’s stories and using them on the website, we’d like to do something to give back to the community in a sustainable, lasting way. One of these ways was to update and improve the Hyde Park Wikipedia page, which I believe our team has accomplished to quite a success. We have more than quadrupled the previous information on the site. Another way is by creating a community video, documenting the community’s assets in order to boost community morale and encourage them to make progressive strides forward. Portraying this through the lens of a few people’s personal stories, and focusing on one person in particular, would blend the mission of Crossroads with the video project: preserving personal stories in a lasting way.

I want the video to be as professionally done as possible and have already commandeered Ms. Dorothy Cox at Shasta Central, a resident, Ms. Ruth Byrd, and Professor Liz Daggett of the Rhodes College Film Studies department for advising and supervision purposes. All are interested in the project and Ms. Byrd seems especially good as a personal catalyst for the video. Ms. Cox will meet with me throughout the school year and advise me, and Professor Daggett will do the same throughout the course of the project.

My goal is to have something to show to the community by the end of the coming school year. Ms. Cox suggests we have a film viewing event on the Rhodes College campus and invite members of the Hyde Park community who were involved in the video as well as faculty, staff, and students. She would also like us to make a few DVDs so she can have copies available at Shasta Central.

As a team, we are proud of having a way to continue the work of Crossroads creatively throughout the year, even though most of us will not be working directly with Crossroads in the fall. The community video and the Wikipedia page will help promote the public image of Hyde Park as a place where real people live and can still thrive. The continuous nature of Wikipedia allows for a constant stream of images and new information to bring awareness about the area, and the personal nature of the video will, hopefully, add an element of humanity to what has typically been a negative, biased portrayal of the community.